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Sidewalk Labs, a Google company, has announced plans to build a futuristic city in Toronto, Canada. The new urban area, called Sidewalk Toronto, aims at turning the waterfront of Lake Ontario into a playground for city developmentand a testing site for new technologies.

The project wants to make cities cheaper, healthier and even more exciting to live in . The new city will offer its residents ultra-fast WiFi connections, lanes for self-driving cars and sustainableenergy sources. Thousands of sensors will report pollution and noise levels, as well as monitor traffic and levels of carbon monoxide.

Planners of Sidewalk Toronto want to find new solutions for overpopulation, waste management , traffic , pollution and other urban problems. Several companies have said that they will make their services available to the new city.

Planners estimate that the project will cost around 1 billion dollars. However, it will also offer tens of thousands of people a place to live, work and have fun. Eventually, similar projects may spread to other parts of the world, helping to build smarter and greener cities.

Google has also announced that it plans to move its Canadian headquarters to Sidewalk Toronto.

Skyline of Toronto from Lake Ontario – Image: George Socka

Words

aim = wants to , plans to

announce = to officially say something in public

available = here: something that people can use

carbon monoxide = poisonous gas that produces carbon when it is burned

development = to become bigger, more modern and advanced

estimate = think about how much something will cost

eventually = as time goes on, slowly

futuristic = something that looks unusual and very modern

headquarters = the main building or offices used by a large company

however = but

lane = one of two or many areas on the road that keeps cars apart

monitor = watch, observe

overpopulation = too many people live on a small area of land

resident = here: a person who lives in a city

services = work or help that a company gives you

similar = almost the same

solution = way of dealing with a problem

spread = move to another place

sustainable = something that can be used without causing danger to the environment or nature

urban = about a city

waste management = way of getting rid of unwanted materials and dirty water

waterfront = part of a city or town that is next to the sea or lake

WiFi connection = connecting computers and other machines to the Internet by using radio signals

Thousands of penguin babies have starved to death in the eastern Antarctic recently . Observers found thousands of unhatched eggs and lifeless baby penguins on the coast. According to scientists , only two baby penguinssurvived during the 2017 breeding season. Adélie penguins live in colonies that consist of thousands of animals. It is the second time that a whole colony has been wiped out after no babies survived in 2015.
The World Wildlife Fund says that krill fishing in the area has led to the starving of penguin babies. Officials state that fishing in the area may permanentlyendanger the whole penguin population in the Antarctic.
Another reason for the declining number of Adélie penguins is possibly climate change. In regions where ice gets thicker, adult penguins must travel further away from the shore in order to find food. When they get back they find many of their babies already dead.
The WWF and other organisations now demand that the eastern Antarctic coastline be declared a Marine Protected Area in order to help endangered penguins. Commercial fishing should be banned around these areas .
Adélie penguins live along the Antarctic coast and usually breed from October to February. They lay eggs in nests made up of stones.
Adélie penguin – Image : Andrew Shiva

Words

according to = as said by …

adult = grownup

ban = forbid

breed = two or more animals get together in order to have babies

commercial fishing = fishing in order to make money

consist of = made up of

declare = to officially say that something exists

declining = going down

demand = want to have

endanger = to put a person or an animal in danger

krill = small shellfish

lifeless = dead

Marine Protected Area = area in the ocean where fishing and mining is banned and where animals and plants are protected

Estonia is a small Baltic state with a population of 1.3 million. Despite its size it is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world and has been creating a digital society since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
In Estonia, citizens are allowed to do most things online. Every inhabitant has a uniqueID card that they use for a number of purposes.They can file tax returns, get medical prescriptions and manage their health records online. They can pay for a parking ticket via mobile phone and don’t have to go to a registration office when a child is born. Parents can check their children’s grades and communicate with teachers. For many years Estonians have been able to vote online.
In 2014 the small Baltic country started a new digital initiative. It allows non-citizens to become digital residents for 100 euros. The government wants to bring qualified people to the country because the working population is steadily decreasing. The country desperately needs new programmers, web developers and media experts. Up to now 20 000 people from other countries have applied for digital citizenship.
Many countries, among them Finland and Japan are trying to copy Estonia’s digital society. However, authoritiespoint out that the country’s smallness is an advantage. Such a system may not work very well in larger countries with millions of people.
Digital Summit in Estonia – Image: Anna Piperal

Words

advanced = very modern

advantage = here: something that helps you to be successful

apply = to make a request

authorities = the people who are in charge of a government organisation or department

Baltic = region in the northeastern part of Europe

citizen = person who lives in a country and has rights there

collapse = breakdown , end

create = make

decrease = go down

desperately = very much

despite = even though

file tax returns = here: to send information on how much you have earned to the local government; it then tells you how much tax you have to pay

government = the people who rule a country

health records = information about your health

however = but

ID card = small plastic card that has information about a person

inhabitant = a person who lives in a country

initiative = a new plan

point out = to show something that is important

population = the number of people living in a country

prescription = a piece of paper on which the doctor writes down what medicine a sick person should take

purpose = what something is needed for

qualified = with special skills and talents

registration office = place where you have report to when a baby is born or someone dies

resident = a person who officially lives in a country

society = people in general and the way they live and work together

size =how large the country is

smallness = not large in size

Soviet Union = largest Communist country that existed between 1922 and 1991

60 people have died so far due to an outbreak of plague in Madagascar. According to the World Health Organisation, Madagascar witnesses about 400 cases of plague every year. However, this year infections have started much earlier and are spreading from remoterural areas to cities as well.
Most cases were pneumonic plague, a dangerous and severe infection of the lung. It is highly infectious and can be transmitted through air by coughing and sneezing. It invades the lungs and can lead to death within 24 hours.
156 cases were attributed to bubonic plague, an infection that is transmitted by rats and spreads to humans through flea bites. It can be very painful and causesfever, headache, chest pain as well as swollen lymph nodes.
While both forms of plague can be treated it is important to detect the illness at an early stage and get medical help to people as soon as possible. The WHO has helped with millions of doses of antibiotics. The International Red Cross has set up treatment centresthroughout the island. In addition the government has been supplyingpeople with masks and has closed down schools.
Madagascar, with a population of 25 million, has witnessed outbreaks of plague since the 1980s, usually during the rainy season between November and March. Officials fear that this time the disease might not be contained and could spread to many regions of the country.
The most deadly plague in history occurred in Europe in the 14th century. About a third of the continent’s population when killed as sailors brought the infectious disease from Asia.
International Red Cross parcel arriving at a treatment centre

Words

according to = as reported by

antibiotic = medicine that is used to kill bacteria and cure infections

attribute = to believe that something is caused by …

century = a hundred years

chest = front part of your body between your neck and stomach

contain = to stop something from spreading

detect = discover, notice

dose = an amount of medicine that you should take

due to = because of

flea = very small insect without wings that bites animals and people and eats their blood

in addition = also

infectious = disease that can be passed on from person to person, mostly by air

invade = here: attack

lymph node = small round swelling in your body with liquid that helps fight off infections

occur = happen

official = person in a high position in the government

outbreak = when something suddenly starts

remote = far away

rural = in the countryside

severe = very bad

spread = move from one place ot another

supply = give

swollen = larger than normal

throughout = all across

transmit = to pass on to another person

treat = cure an illness with medicine and other drugs

treatment centre = place where people can come to in order to get medicine

witness = experience ; see something happen

World Health Organisation (WHO) = international organisation which helps countries improve health care by giving people medicine and providing information about diseases

The first commercial flight landed on the British island of St. Helena a few days ago. It was the first passenger flight ever to land on the remote island, located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. St. Helena’s authorities hope that the new air service from Johannesburg, South Africa will help boost tourism on the island.
Up to now only a boat service every three weeks connected the island with the African continent. It took a ship about 6 days to travel from South Africa. The small island reliesheavily on British aid to survive. St. Helena’s tourism officials say that the new air link will bring 30,000 visitors to the island every year, compared to only 4,000 last year.
The airport cost almost £ 300 m and has been widely criticised as being the most useless airport in the world. Only smaller airplanes can fly to the island because strong winds to not allow large jet planes to take off and land.
Saint Helena is mostly known as the island to which French emperor Napoleon was banned and diedafter he had suffered a defeat at Waterloo. The British overseas territory is only 122 square kilometres large and lies 2000 km off the coast of Africa. It has a population of 4,200 .Development on the island has been slow. It got its first mobile phone service in 2015 and the first luxury hotel on the island is opening soon. Wildlife and nature on and around the island is why tourists find there way to St. Helena. A Marine Protected Area was established there last year.
The new airport on St. Helena – Image: Paul Tyson

Words

aid = financial help; money

air link = flights to and from a place

air service = company that arranges flights

authorities = the people who rule a place

ban = here: to bring someone to a faraway place so that he/she cannot escape

boost = improve; make better

coast = where land meets the sea

commercial = with passengers on board who pay for the flight

development = to increase business, trade and growth in a region

emperor = man who rules a group of countries

establish = create

heavily = very much; strongly

luxury hotel = very expensive hotel

Marine Protected Area = place in the ocean where animals and plants are protected

Easter Island , or Rapa Nui as the natives call themselves , belongs to the remotest places on earth. The Chilean island, famous for its carved statues, is located in the middle of the southern Pacific Ocean.
For decades, scientists have been wondering how the natives got to the island before the first Europeans came in 1722. Most experts think that the first settlers came to Easter Island at around 1200 A.D. , probably on small boats crisscrossing the Pacific Ocean.
Other anthropologists have been trying to find out if the natives have any connections to early South Americans, three thousand kilometres away. Latest research now claims that the Easter Islanders were, in fact, more isolated than previously thought.
Scientists have been examining the skeletons and bones of five people that go back hundreds of years. However, they have found no evidence that suggests they have might have ancestors in South America.
The first theory of South American ancestry came up when Thor Heyerdahl saw sweet potatoes when he arrived there in the 1950s. He also found people using fishing tools that South Americans also used. Scientists at that time thought the people of the Easter Islands may have sailed to South America and back again some time before the Europeans came.Famous statues on Easter Island – Image: Horacio_Fernandez

Words

ancestor = a member of your family who lived a long time ago

anthropologist = a person who studies people , their cultures and where they come from

carved = to cut an object with a knife

claim = to say that something is true even if you cannot prove it

Chilean = from Chile

crisscross = to travel many times back and forth without a certain pattern ; zigzag

decade = ten years

evidence = facts that clearly show that something is true or exists

examine = to look very closely at an object

however = but

isolated = here: to be alone and far away from others

located = can be found

native = a person who was born in a country or place

previously = earlier

remote = very far away from civilisation

research = the study of a subject in order to find out new facts

sail = the wind brings you somewhere on a boat

scientist = a person who is trained in science and works in a lab

settler = a person who goes to live in a place where not many people have lived before

Winds and storms in the Atlantic are so strong that wind-powered turbines in the Atlantic Ocean could provide the whole world with clean energy. Energy experts now claim that ocean wind farms can produce three to five times more energy than wind turbines on land. Over water wind speeds are up to 70% higher.
Winds on land create friction because of mountains and buildings. They slow down as they move inwards . In addition, turbines are built closer together, which takes some of the wind speed away .
Winds are especially strong across the northern Atlantic Ocean because of differences in water temperature. When the warm Gulf Stream moves up the North Americancoast it mixes with cold water in the northern Atlantic. This leads to higher storm activity and more winds, especially during the winter months.
Norway’s energy company Statoil has been operating floating wind turbines in the shallow North Sea for over a decade. These are connected via cable to the ocean floor. In order to make them work in the deep sea , however, they must be attached to vertical poles that have massiveweights in the water.
One of the biggest problems that face ocean wind farms is transporting energy from the deep sea to land. Energy companies , like Statoil, are looking for high-wind areas that are closer to shore.
While wind farms on land are becoming more and more common, production costs of running them are becoming lower. In the near future wind energy is expected to become one of the cheapest alternative energy sources .
Europe is the number one wind energy producer at the moment. Every year, about 12 gigawatts of energy are produced by wind power, whereas in America green energy from wind is still in its infancy. If produced more effectively, the solution to the world’s energy problems may lie in ocean wind farms.
Offshore wind farm in the North Sea – Image : Harald Pettersen / Statoil

Scientists have discovered a gigantic hole that has reappeared in the Antarctic ice. It is about the size of the Netherlands and is located around the Weddell Sea.In the 1970s climatologists found a similar hole at almost the same spot. At that time they didn’t have the observation equipment that they have now, so they couldn’t study the hole closely enough. After a few years it disappeared . Last year, the hole came up again.Researchers cannot explain how the hole emerged. One theory is that warmer salt water from deep under the Antarctic ice sheet may have come up and mixed with cold water near the surface, thus , melting the ice sheet above. Normally a thick layer of ice covers Antarctica at the end of the southern winter. Scientists also claim that it may be connected to climate change and global warming.
Such a hole in the ice is called a polynya. Although not totally uncommon, it is strange that the hole in the Antarctic ice has appeared very far from its edge . Usually such holes are found in coastal regions.
Climatologists are not sure whether the hole will have an impact on the water temperature in the world’s oceans. If warmer water continues to surface to the top of the hole it may stay there for a longer period of time because it would then be difficult for ice layers to form.Severe weather conditions during the Antarctic winter make it difficult to find holes in the ice . This is the second time in two years that such a hole has emerged , although last year’s was not that big.
Antarctic Ice Shelf

Words

although = while

claim = to say that something is true even if you cannot prove it

climatologist = person who studies the weather and how it changes the climate on earth

coastal = where land meets the sea

disappear = go away

discover = to find something that has not been there before

edge = the part of an object that is furthest from the centre

emerge = come out from somewhere

equipment = the tools or machines you need to do something

gigantic = huge; very big

global warming = the increase in the temperature of the atmosphere

ice sheet = area of thick ice that covers the North and South Poles

impact = influence, change

layer = material or substance between two other things

reappear = to come again, after it has gone away for some time

researcher = a person who studies a subject in order to find out more about it

Experts from the World Health Organisation say that childhood obesity has risentenfold in the last four decades and is at its highest rate since 1975.
Worldwide obesity rates have increased from less than 1% in 1975 to about 7% today. A total of 120 million children are considered to be obese, boys more than girls. The researchersexamineddata that tracked the height and weight of over 30 million 5 to 19 year-olds in the last 40 years.
Obesity at a young age can lead to heart disease and diabetes as well as social problems like bullying and teasing . It also can affect the progress of pupils at school. Apart from that, the effects of childhood obesity are estimated to cost the world’s health care systems over $1 trillion in the next ten years.While the increase in childhood obesity rates in developed countries in Europe and North America has slowed down , it is still at a very high rate. Children in middle and higher class areas are especially at risk because families have more money to buy unhealthy food.
Experts suggest that countries in which childhood obesity is increasing should think about measures like introducing a tax on sugary drinks or unhealthy food. Schools should offer healthier products in their canteens and better labelling could help show consumers how much sugar, fat and salt products have.
On the other side, many children in poor countries remain underweight and malnourished. Countries with the highest number of underweight children include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. In southern Asia about 25% of all children are thought to be underweight.
The WHO claims that if the trend continues there will soon be more obese than underweight children in our world.
Childhood Obesity – Image: Robert Lawton

Words

affect = change

apart from … = also

bullying = someone who uses their strength or power to frighten or hurt someone who is weaker

canteen = place at school where students get a meal or other food

claim = to say that something is true even if you do not have the facts to prove it

considered = people think that

examine = look at information very closely

data = information

decade = ten years

developed countries = rich countries in the world

diabetes = serious illness in which there is too much sugar in your blood

especially = above all

estimate = guess how high something is by looking at the information you have

height = how tall a person is

increase = to go up

labelling = information on a product

malnourished = if you don’t have enough food to eat

measure = action that the government takes

obesity = when someone is very fat in an unhealthy way

offer = give, provide

remain = stay

researcher = person who studies a topic in order to find out more about it

rise – rose – risen = to go up

tax = money you must pay to the government for products you buy

tenfold = ten times as much

track = to look at information about something over a certain period of time

trillion = 1,000 000 000 000 = one thousand billion

weight = how heavy a person is

World Health Organisation (WHO) = international organisation that helps improve health around the world by giving medicine and providing information about diseases

Researchers have found that 3 million dollars worth of gold lands in Switzerland’s sewage system every year. After taking a close look at Swiss waste-water treatment plants, they claim that over a hundred pounds of gold and 6,000 pounds of silver are washed away with waste. However, it would be too expensive to remove the gold from the wasted water.
Switzerland is a country that processes and refines gold on a large scale. About 70% of the world’s most precious metal passes through Switzerland in some way or other. Gold is used especially in the country’s watchmaking industry, which dominates the world market.
Other valuable metals pass through the country’ sewage system, but they do not pose an environmental threat.
Most of the refineries lie in the southern canton Ticino, only a short distance from the Italian border.
Swiss watch – Image: Joe Haupt

Words

border = line between two countries

canton = province of Switzerland

claim = to say that something is true

dominate = to be number one

environmental threat = danger to the world around us

especially = above all

pose = cause a problem

precious = very valuable

on a large scale = here: large factories refine large amounts

refine = here: to make gold purer

remove = take something away

researcher = person who studies a subject in order to find out more about it

sewage system = a place where waste water from households is collected; the water is cleaned and returned into rivers or the sea

valuable = expensive

waste-water treatment plants = place where waste water from households is cleaned from unusable material